Since I know another "Calamity Jane", I suspect some people are just plain unlucky.
This poor woman (I've known her about 15 years) just seems to have a black cloud over her head in all areas except her garden (which is how I know her). Two doctors told her that lump was nothing, forget about it. Three years later, after the radical, she starts reacting to the new meds Doc #3 put her on. Turns out that she is allergic to horses (something she never knew) and that is the animal the replacement hormone is "harvested" from. That took ages to figure out. Meanwhile, with out the hormones, she is having other nasty problems.
That is all figured out, there is an accident across the street from her house. The downed pole takes out both cars and the front porch. Her homeowners has to cover as it was a stolen car and an uninsured driver. That company drops her, no one else will pick her up at reasonable rate and her basement floods (usually covered here in NH) taking out her rec room and tons of damage. (turns out that her house had a history of accidents that she didn't find out from the pervious owners.)
Her husband decides to take a hike after having at least one affair, too much stress, leaving her with the second mortgage she knew nothing about. She's starts having some immune system problems as does oldest daughter. She moved to AZ a few years ago and we lost touch, but I sincerely hope life got tons better for her.
Especially when the doctor they go to doesn't ever bother to say "you'd be better off with another doctor".
I had no idea that the guy was writing lies in my medical records until it was too late. I had no idea that all those promises to sign my Disability application after a few more tests or trying another prescription were just empty words meant to make sure that I missed the application deadline. If he'd been honest with me, I might have found a sympathetic doctor who'd sign the forms in time; but his goal wasn't to restore my health, it was to prevent me from getting Disability, even if that meant ignoring medical ethics and the law against falsifying medical records.
A friend, who does not have CFS affecting her judgment, went to the same doctor. He also came across to her as concerned for her health. And when she got her medical records to take to another doctor, she also found they were full of disparaging comments and lies; things she never said.
It's this guy's standard practice, apparently, to promise you everything and then write in your medical records the worst possible things making it clear that he didn't take you, or your health, seriously.
If she couldn't "read" him as a smarmy liar, with full control of her mental faculties, then she can't imagine how I should have spotted this when I was exhausted from a year of sleeping 2 hours a night and not thinking clearly.
He knew what my diagnosis was and never said "I don't believe in CFS" so that I could go to someone who knew what they were doing.
Dr. Yunus says "It is not the patients who are disturbed, it is the physicians who are psychologically disturbed because they ignore the data." There's plenty of evidence that CFS exists, but this bozo chose to ignore it. He did the tests that *should* have been normal, didn't do the tests that might have been abnormal, and when one of the tests turned up positive, he dictated that it was negative, knowing that the judge would never read the original lab report to find out he'd lied, nor would the judge question why he hadn't done various tests that a CFS expert would have ordered.
Unfortunately, although you can get away from these quacks when you finally realize that they're telling you what you want to hear and doing something entirely different, you can't turn back the clock and get treatment in those crucial first few months that could have changed the outcome.
I certainly never would have *chosen* to spend the rest of my life in this condition and earning a below-poverty-level income. My goal was to get back to the career I loved, and believing the wrong person has cost me any chance to do that. If the odds of a woman over 40 getting remarried are miniscule, imagine what the odds are for a woman over 40 who is virtually homebound. His lies ruined my life, but he's proud of himself because he did the government a favor by saving them a few bucks in Disability benefits. He could have saved the government a helluva lot more money by telling me the truth, and getting me to a specialist, so that I could've gone back to paying huge amounts of income taxes INTO the system, instead of applying to take money out of the system.
And, for the record, I still pay taxes. Some years, my total tax burden has been more than my income, and then I have to pay thousands for medical insurance and medical bills besides. The last government benefit that I got was when my Unemployment ran out in 2000. So don't go portraying me as a societal leech because I'm disabled.
And of course Sheena is NEVER unkind. And, of course, Karen is never unkind with her comments about so-called friends "again and again" - THAT`S what`s farcical. Ho-hum! ;-))
You`re so right - some families seem to get it all, and it can just be a matter of luck - I have a friend like that, too, (we`ve been great friends for 66 years) If anything CAN go wrong for her, it will, though, and this bad luck seems to afflict the rest of her family, too. She and her brother have both had severe illness, both had young children die, and both lost their spouses at an early age - but they`re both still great to be with and both do a lot for their communities.
Positive people like that aren`t rarities. However, a lot of people could take a lesson from them and improve their own lives in the process.
Caryn and Victoria have problems but they are actively fighting them. That`s the whole point. They don`t sit and whine about how badly other folk treat them, or don`t help them.
We just got back from the hospital where our oldest daughter ended up yesterday, after her sons couldn`t get any sense out of and phoned for help. We THINK she had been trying to cut down her medication too fast. At the hospital, they aren`t sure if it`s Clinical or psychological until the tests have been completed. At this moment in time she`s perfectly well and happy but totally insane. She insisted we look between her toes as "There are little people living there - and they came with her hanging under the plane!" Our other daughter, Jane, sorted everything out yesterday, and we take it in turns to go up there.
We left her there quite happily, and feel better for the visit. The atmosphere is wonderful, the staff are great, the surroundings are really beautiful- we told her to just relax and treat it as a holiday - I THINK she took that much in.
She suffers from Bi-Polar and Epilepsy, so diagnosis of her current state is pretty problematic. She`d also got dehydrated as she thought someone was poisoning her, which didn`t help. She`s a lot better than when she arrived, though, and looks so WELL!
Everyone has problems - even me - but not everyone usually (note I said USUALLY) inflicts them on everyone else. In fact, problems are much better discussed by letter or email than on a public forum. You`re more likely to get a well thought out and lengthy, thoughtful response.
I don't know. I think Brenda pointed out quite a few examples.
I just heard on the radio (and read in the paper the other day) that Brits spend about $2,000 per person per year on health care and the U.S. about $5,000. Yet, the Brits are far healthier. When they took into consideration those in the U.S. that were wealthy and had all the insurance necessary, that group was in poorer shape than the Brits. They took obesity into consideration and also cigarette smoking. The rate of diabetes is half what it is in the U.S. (and no, not all type II diabetes is caused by obesity).
The researchers think it's lifestyle (Brits walk more and eat less), but they're not sure. They're really scratching their heads over this research, which was extensive.
Dianne Lewandowski ,in rec.crafts.textiles.needleworkwrote: and entertained us with
The biggest difference I notice is how people eat. In north America too often people think a 'fast' meal is a good meal. I like a glass of wine with my meal and to eat the food slowly. Fast is definitely not how I like to eat.
Also, anyone who has visited me here from Europe drops when they see the size of portions. I am thinking there of those chain places like Montanas, Applebees etc. Way toooo much food per serving.
Well, that`s nice to know, anyway. What I have noticed (much to John annoyance, who`s definitely overweight and hails from those parts!) is the much greater number of really obese people walking around Plymouth than you see on our side of the country. Poor old John is constantly battling with his weight, although he eats very little (so has nowhere else to go!). Mind you he`s tall and WIDE. As our doctor says, he was never intended to be a small person, and as long as he doesn`t put weight on, don`t worry.
On the whole, our doctors are really good, so maybe I SHOULD be wary of being taken ill in America - apart from the expense! I`d love to nip over to see Carolyn in Arizona, but I`d never get inurance!
There are some excellent physicians in this country. But not all are equal. There's also an increasing number of physicians who have not received training in the US but who are working here. While it is true that some other countries also have excellent medical schools, others do not and an area that is having a hard time recruiting/retaining doctors will take what it can get. There are also outright frauds who purchase fake degrees online or have other false papers. They are hired out of desperation and it can take years (and, sadly, fatalities) before they are caught. Don't assume a thorough background check has been run!
A huge weakness I see all the time in my area is there are some wonderful doctors who have barely-literate support staff. The doctors are not the ones who transcribe the notes or file the supporting documents that go in your chart. The doctors are not the ones who label a chart to note any allergies. The doctors are not the ones who send/receive insurance information and handle referrals. This is stuff that the clerical staff screws up--with some frequency--that can cause a routine visit to turn into a life-or-death situation. The trend now is for medical transcriptionists to take some internet training and then work from home as an independent contractor for physicians they've never met. Once again, little checking is done to make certain they are competent. I'm sure some are diligent and ask questions if they can't make out something the doctor has dictated, but there are others who really should seek another line of work.
Periodically ask your doctor to give you your chart for review. You have this right (> Pat P wrote:
That is what was so noticeable in Japan! There were no "big" plates on the table , no big chunks of meat in the shops. In fact my DIL's oven in her "modern" house is about the size of a toaster oven, or the broiler in my English stove. It is designed for fish, primarily. Everything is in small pieces, and has wonderful flavors. Because you eat with chopsticks, it takes a little longer, and conversation flows. Consequently a meal is a pleasure, not especially filling, so small snacks are eaten in between. I can't remember seeing a really obese person in the ten days I was there! Some of the Navy wives, yes, but very few of the Japanese. Well-rounded some were, but grossly fat, no!
That has been going on for a good decade. The trend now is to take the trained human out of the equation in favor of voice/speech recognition.
The other aspect is how the doctor dictates. There are many, MANY doctors who can't form a coherent sentence to save their lives or will not dictate properly, and there are just as many for whom English is not their first language and are just as difficult to understand. I transcribe 4 doctors who have been told that their dictation is terrible and can't be transcribed well, and their answer was, "Not my problem."
There are a good many incompetent medical transcriptionists out there, true. A lot of these have been lured in by the promises of "easy money, work from home" ads. But in the final analysis, the doctor is the one who is legally responsible for the chart, as the doctor is the one who signs the report.
It doesn't matter how good or bad the MT is, it's the doctor's responsibility to make sure the chart is accurate for the patient's sake as well as his own fiduciary health.
If they don't sit and whine about their problems, Pat, how exactly is it that we all know about them? Caryn even admits that she whines on this forum. To me, her complaints about Karen are simply the pot calling the kettle black.
Personally, though, I'd be happy if those of you who object to Caryn picking on Karen would just ignore her, because then I'd never have to see another word that she posts and neither would Karen.
One thing no-one seems to have considered is that the Brits (and other Europeans) work not more than a 37.5 hour week. In some countries, 35 hours. Plus, a minimum of 4 weeks vacation a year, and more often 6 weeks. Also, with the greater social "safety net" as well as national health insurance, people have both more time to relax and less stress. Young people in these countries can do work which interests them, unlike here in the US where they have to take the job which has benefits even if they are miserable there.
At one point, she told me that God must see her as Job. Then her oldest son, about 16 then, went Goth, totally freaking Mom out. Here, she's trying to find away to escape the needles and he's adding them to his face. ( I did not want to know about elsewhere.)
And by the way, the first hour of conversation was always about the calamities, old and new.
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